CAUSE COFFEE--I thought I'd posted "cause coffee" before on ADS-L, but I don't see it in the archives. It's in my e-mail in Badgett's Coffe Journal:
http://www.aboutcoffee.net/2003_02_16_bcearc.html#90330832
MALAY PICKLE--This is not in the revised OED. It's all over Sri Lanka. A quick "Malay pickle" google shows several Sri Lanka sites such as this one:
http://www.infolanka.com/recipes/mess3/52.html
BANANA FRITTER--What a tremendous buffet here, with this dessert offered. Called "donkeyo" here or something like that, but I didn't see it at www.asiarecipe.com in the Sri Lanka dessert section.
OT MISC:
SNOWSTORM HITS EAST COAST--The weather here is perfect. There are three pools here in at the Kandalama Hotel, a five-star hotel. Boy, to think that I coulda been back in New York...My fellow tourists have been whining about staying at good hotels, saying how much better it is to stay in some roach-infested place with no running water. to be "nearer to the people." Nah...I've been in bad hotels and good hotels, and good hotels are better.
CHESS IN SRI LANKA--I forgot to mention it, but an early chess piece was an elephant. This is why Sri Lanka would be a better fit for the board game than China...I see just now that my old friend, Sneaky Slimy Sammy Sloan as we used to call him, put my e-mail to him on Google Groups. Oy.